A Really Big Thank You

We had some post today, a large envelope which contained the certificate in the photo above. A massive thank you to all those guests who wrote reviews on Tripadvisor. Reviews are important to an out of the way business such as ours for a myriad of reasons, obviously it's lovely to know that people had a good holiday, but also given that we get no passing trade it gives people a view other than ours or a travel agents.

So from the team at Ras Mbisi, Asante sana and Karibu tena Ras Mbisi xx

It's that time of year again

The Whale sharks are back in the channel, the last couple of mornings have been early starts (5am) as the tides are not in our favour for the next few days, thankfully by the end of the week, guests wanting to swim with them will get their breakfast at the lodge rather than bacon,sausage and egg rolls on the boat :)as the tide moves to a more respectable hour of the morning.

Sympathy Tourism

This is something that has been on my mind for while then today I read David Whiteleys piece on his blog GrumpyTraveller.com this last paragraph really says what i think "Tourism as an industry is about service, not charity. People are not giving their money to destinations, they are spending it there. There is an enormous difference. If people are genuinely moved by plight, they’ll make a charity donation, not book a flight and hotel. Tourism is a business, not a welfare scheme – and anyone tempted to overplay the sympathy card would do well to remember that." Most Lodges and Hotels in Tanzania (and elsewhere in the developing world) have involvement in their local community, and there is no reason to hide it, BUT, as a primary marketing tool? Really? How many people actually choose their annual break to help others? As a bonus, great, but most people want to have a great holiday, and to be honest promoting the fact that people nearby are in desparate need of your financial help probably just makes people feel guilty.

Ras Mbisi is about good food, relaxing and being looked after, by people who really want you to have an amazing holiday, if we choose to donate or set up projects with monies earned then great, but we will never force guests to contribute, in fact we are unlikely to mention it to you at all. Occasionally we will refer to it in a blog, but it is not the reason we exist, we exist to give our guests the best we can on this beautiful remote and deserted beach paradise.

The view from Banda 3

The Dar es Salaam Goat Races 2011

It's that time of year, the announcement that people and companies can choose and enter a goat for the Annual Goat Races. I know mad, but anyway - the Dar es Salaam Goat Races are the Dar equivalent of Ascot, lots of dressing up and HATS, and it's all done for Charity.

The Goat Races started in 2001 and have run each year since getting bigger each time, it raises masses for charities based in Tanzania and is a totally over the top fun day out (although it carries on into the night at various bars for the adults!!)

We will be donating a weekend at Ras Mbisi for the Goat Race raffle. http://www.goatraces.com/

The rainy season

As the picture shows, it doesn't rain ALL the time during the long rains. It just feels like it!

The Honeymoon

Well there we go, Wills and Kate are married, but not heading off on honeymoon just yet. The official line given was that he had to apply for leave and didn’t get it. They depart on Honeymoon in two weeks to ‘a remote island in the Indian Ocean, the accommodation is set in a coconut grove and the area is known for nesting sea turtles’ had it added “and whale sharks” it could have been Mafia Island!!! Happily none of the accommodation on Mafia costs $4000 a night though!

Where do you think they are going?

Celebration!

We have a Bride

Beautiful lovely Meghan and big brother Craig

Where's the Bride??

Almost there.......................

All chilled and waiting to toast the happy couple




The 'stage' is set



All we need is a bride................

Wedding Preparations

It seems the world has gone Wedding crazy, make that Royal Wedding crazy. As regular readers know we had a wedding here in February, the photos arrived last night and I will be posting the ones of the big day in the next few days. As a taster though here are a few from behind the scenes.

Letters in the post

The loveliest thing, a real letter in the post! Not a bill, or junk mail a real letter. This was from some wonderful guests who stayed in February and came via one of our UK based agents

Re-produced Letter
‘‘Dear John and Michelle

I can’t believe that it is eight weeks since Michael and I returned from Mafia Island. In that time I have spent six of those weeks keeping and eye on an aged aunt in Plymouth whilst her carer went on holiday, as well as juggling bits of work courtesy of my laptop, mobile phone and passing homing pigeons. Michael went straight back to work with a week of high pressure meetings with colleagues from the UK and America plus consultants. Reality has a cruel way to bring you back to earth.

We have very pleasant memories of our stay at Ras Mbisi that will stay with us for a long time. One of our best, if not the best, holiday, ever thanks to you both and your team.

It has taken me eight weeks to get some pictures printed that I took of the guys on the boat when we visited ‘your’ desert islands. They aren’t the greatest photos on the world, as the bright sky tends to skew the exposure. But I did get enough prints so that there’s one each. That’s if they want them.

Also, as the car turned the corner from the Lodge we realized that we hadn’t said goodbye to Rama who had looked after us so well at meal times and also on the boat trips. He must have thought us very rude white trash, so do please send our apologies and could you give him the enclosed envelope as a thank you. (I/We never seem to get the tipping thing right.) This time we put it all in the tip box thinking that would share it all out fairly. But the looks on the guys faces when we left having seemingly given them nothing made us feel awful. So next time in Africa, or anywhere else non-European, we’ll do a mixture of individuals and tip boxes.

We have put the word round about Ras Mbisi and given the web link to a few friends so we are doing our PR bit too. I hope the rest of your season goes/went well and that the wedding event was a great success. Good luck with next season.
Warwick Square sends its regards as do we.

Peter and Michael’’

Just a note; the tip system here is a shared tip box, this was/is the staffs choice and they are very happy with the system, they also never expect tips. As all our staff are local most had never had jobs before let alone worked in the hospitality industry so until the first tips happened they had no idea they would get them as well as getting paid. They don’t take them for granted and know that if guests don’t get exceptional service there won’t be any tips. There is no need for any guest to feel they should tip directly (although if they want to then that is their choice – but please, be aware that there are many staff members behind the scenes that you rarely see but are just as responsible for making your stay as those you do see and interact with). By the by, the ‘look’ on the guys faces was sadness, they are always sorry to see nice guests go – but you should see the jigs of joy when the rare nightmare ones leave!!!!
The reference to Warwick Square was because they live just off it and I used to live just on it (long ago in my single, girl about London days), a fact discovered over cocktails at sundown.


The photo? That's Shungu Mbili, our 'desert' island, site of many a beach BBQ for our guests.

Internet woes

Rains are here! Everything is turning green, it is incredibly beautiful here now, it doesn't rain constantly and the sea is still and totally clear as is the beach. In fact it's possibly the nicest time of year providing you can cope with the heavy downpours when they do come. We are contemplating remaining open during next years rainy season as the runway will have been completed and planes will be able to land in all weathers.

Of course, just to help, the internet is down! I was having to travel to town to answer emails etc but have manage to rig up a rather Heath Robinson contraption with a Vodocom dongle, not great due to the weak signal, but better than nothing

We are hoping that Vodacom will come good and supply a booster/repeater so that we have a decent mobile signal at Ras Mbisi, this will have the knock on effect of internet access for guests (and us), it has to be said though that Voda are not exactly proactive with regard to keeping us informed so we may yet have to resort to contacting one of their competitors, we don’t want to as we have had Voda mobiles for over 5 years and all our 40 staff also use Voda, but if it becomes necessary the change will have to happen. Regardless, we are NOT going to continue to pay AFSAT thousands each year for zero customer service, 1gb of download a month and constant grief! (by which I mean the connection is down more often than it’s up and working) Had they been just a little reasonable with a small amount of ‘give’ we would have upped our allocation and had a second connection for guests, they would have made a lot of money through ‘on demand’ internet access payable via our 3G VISA provider. Being told, ‘it costs this much xxxxx, oh there is a problem with your connection, no we can’t advise you, you must pay $5000 for an engineer plus more for new equipment’ isn’t good, especially when Voda can provide 1gb for less than $30 a month!!!!!!!!!!! Basically they have not just priced themselves out of the market, their customer service is really bad, even for here! Our current mobile signal ‘drifts’ partly due to all the coconut trees (full of water which distorts the signal), and also we are 18 kms from the nearest tower. Lets just hope Voda sees the value of all those roaming customers and gets it sorted, hopefully in my next blog I’ll be able to tell you it’s all up and working!! For bookings, don’t forget you can book online with credit cards for no commission charge and know that your booking is secure.

Exciting news kept for last. Tribes have awarded us with a 3 globe rating for our Eco and Social awareness, despite the fact that we do not push our ‘eco’ or sustainable side as there is as yet no substantive international charter it is lovely to have it recognised by such a high profile Fair Trade agent. http://www.tribes.co.uk/countries/tanzania/accommodation/ras_mbisi

All New!

All new things happening at Ras Mbisi. We've hit the end of the season (again), renovations and additions now underway - so excited about all the new things happening for next season, some real treats in store for all - and next season is looking BUSY!! Which is great, all the staff have worked so hard alongside us to make Ras Mbisi a success, and now as shareholders they get to reap the rewards.

Some shopping Tanzania style photos for you this time - enjoy xxxx

p.s. still waiting for the Wedding photos - hoping to get them soon



Shopping Kilindoni style



Kilindoni main market



Waheedis - source of good fabric, if you look hard enough, I buy linen and silk jersey to make into trousers and tops




Mitumba stall - 'tree boutiques' as we call them, second hand clothes, I've found everything from Primark, through Banana Republic & Gap to Jaeger on these stalls (photo credit for Mitumba stall - MangoTree Musing)

Friends and links and things

Long overdue this post, I/we have had so much support from friends ‘in the biz’ or with links to it I think it’s about time I tell everyone about them

Richard Chanter of Chanters Lodge, Livingstone, Zambia - @livilodge was one of my first followers on Twitter and a staunch supporter of the Ras Mbisi ethos, we love him and can’t wait to visit – also he used to run one of my fav places in Malawi, Nkapola Lodge, I have yet to dare ask him if he remembers a 6 year old and her 3 year old brother attempting to head out onto the lake on one of the pedalo’s!

Rachel Hamada of Mambo Magazine – Mambo is an online mag for coastal Tanzania in general and the islands in particular and it’s FAB, she is also a travel journo a former political journo and has an involvement with Mustaphas Place in Bwejuu, Zanzibar – we have met a couple of times in real life and she is a fun person to spend time with as well as being quick and well informed on her specialist subjects (not to mention vocal on any subject you care to mention)

Sally Mckenna from Africa-beat.com a great resource for TZ residents and tourists alike, Sal-gal has bigged us up, given us exposure, put us up and generally been an all round good egg

Matt Bell from receptionbook.com we luurve Matt (and Adam) they maintain our website, explain complicated internet stuff (well ok not complicated just make it simple for idiots) and run our reservations system.

Ulric Charteris and his team from Roots Marketing, Dar es Salaam, the AV, the brochure all their work, we don’t just love them we want their babies 

Elizabeth Cook Tell ‘em PR in Nairobi another Twitter mate and the first to visit Ras Mbisi – we first met over (many) a glass of wine in the Level 8 bar at the Kempinski in Dar – btw I still have your mates swimming costume lovely.

Jane Alexander @exmoorjane on Twitter, follow her and read her blog, her pieces in the Telegraph, The Lady et al, she has done so much to raise awareness of us and has earned a special place in our hearts – I am still trying to combine a tour of the specialist beer producers plus ‘alternative’ health destinations in TZ so we can get her and hubby here to visit in a ‘work’ scenario 


Stay tuned – we are waiting for the photos of last Saturday’s wedding here at Ras Mbisi – an amazing and beautiful day such a treat to be involved (although I did have a few sleepless nights!!)

Birdlife

Photo credit:- Ulric Charteris, Genius at work

Happy New Year

Wishing all guests and readers past, present and future a very Happy New Year. Let's hope 2011 is good to all.

Weather:

We are really lucky at Ras Mbisi, the two monsoon winds cool us for most of the year due to our being on a peninsular (Ras) which faces north.

June to mid-November – Kusi, this is the south easterly monsoon breeze, this time of year is sunny, clear but not too hot

Mid-November to early December – short rains, these are generally short showers often at night rather than in the daytime.

Early December to March – Kaskasi, this is the north easterly monsoon wind, although this period can be very hot and humid the effect of the kaskasi at Ras Mbisi is very cooling.

End of March to early June, the long (masika) rains include heavy downpours, at times for up to 48 hours at a time. We are closed during this period.

Please note, we are in the tropics, it can rain at any time, from August to late October it is very unlikely to do so but not unheard of, however rain outside of the long (masika) rainy season tends to be short heavy showers followed by bright sunshine.

No Charge for credit card bookings

The on-line booking system is up and running with all the 'bugs' ironed out, we have taken on the high charges imposed by the banks rather than passing them on to the client. The best things about it are that no longer do customers have to do a bank transfer with all the associated costs and they have a greater protection regarding their payments.

Other excitements include Christmas of course, I came back from the World Travel Market laden with bags containing presents for the girls, the older two can barely contain themselves, Georgy at 22 months is obviously still oblivious but I am sure will love unwrapping everything on the day! Balancing the family christmas together with putting guests needs first can be a challenge, but the girls are old enough now to understand and join in with the work knowing that they will get their time once things calm down. We're looking forward to the busiest Christmas and New Year so far, scary but so satisfying as most have come via word of mouth recommendation. We do still have a couple of rooms over New Year thanks to a last minute cancellation from a Tour Operator!

So Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year to all, looking forward to 2011 and welcoming many more future friends to our remote island paradise,

with love

Ras Mbisi Lodge

Mafia Island